Harper Says Quebec Voters Rejected Separation Mandate

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Quebec voters didn’t trigger a fresh
drive to separate from Canada by returning to power the party
that has brought two referendums on the issue, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper said.

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois won the Sept. 4
election with a minority of seats in the provincial legislature,
ousting the Liberals led by Jean Charest after nine years in
power.

“The people of Quebec voted for change,” Harper, 53, said
during an interview in Vancouver yesterday with Bloomberg
Television’s Erik Schatzker. “At the same time I think it was
pretty clear they were denying any kind of a mandate to pursue
the separation of Quebec or the division of the country.”

The Parti Quebecois won 54 of 125 electoral districts,
meaning the PQ will need support from opposition members to pass
laws. Quebec has twice voted in referendums against seceding
from Canada, most recently in 1995. Harper’s comments, his first
in public following the vote, came as he traveled to the summit
of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders in Russia.

The separation issue has lost momentum in recent years,
with an Aug. 31 CROP Inc. poll showing support for sovereignty
at 29 percent, while 68 percent opposed it. At the federal
level, Harper won his first majority government last year while
the separatist Bloc Quebecois lost most of their seats.

‘Quite Confident’

“I feel quite confident” we aren’t headed for another
crisis on national unity, Harper said, adding he has spoken to
Marois since she won the election.

Harper said his view is that separation can’t be pursued at
this time, and that is also “how the government in Quebec will
be forced to interpret” the election results.

A Parti Quebecois government would call a referendum on
independence “at the appropriate time,” according to the
party’s electoral platform. Marois, 63, has refused to commit to
holding a referendum in her first mandate, though she has said
an independent Quebec is her ultimate goal.

The federal government will work with all provinces
including Quebec on “the interests of the Canadian economy,”
such as jobs and economic growth, Harper said. “That’s what I
think the people of Quebec also want to see from their
government.”

Marois has said she intends to cancel planned university
tuition increases through a government decree, scrap a law that
restricts the rights of demonstrators, and introduce new laws
governing the use of French in the workplace.

“Quebeckers made their choice and we will respect this
choice by governing with all elected members,” Marois told
supporters in Montreal on election night. “I am certain we’ll
be able to find the necessary compromises.”

Quebec bonds outperformed other provincial issues after the
election results and the Canadian dollar was little changed just
after the vote. Past PQ victories have triggered weakness in the
currency.